Abstract

Edith Holden(1871-1920) is the naturalist celebrated for her bestselling Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (written 1906, published posthumously 1977). This book of natural observations, paintings, and poetry remained at the top of the British Sunday Times bestseller list for a record- breaking sixty-three weeks and sold prolifically throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East. In the subsequent decade, public demand for information about the little-known author led to a biography and television drama, while the diary itself inspired an international tourist and merchandising industry which encompassed (to name only a few examples) books of gardening, cookery, crafts, household furnishings, and food.